90 million potential vaccine doses secured

THE Government has reached agreements it says will give British citizens early access to 90 million doses of two more potential Covid-19 vaccines.

The vaccines are being developed by US biotech company Novavax and pharmaceutical business Janssen, which is headquartered in Belgium and owned by Johnson & Johnson.

Under the in-principle agreements, the UK has secured 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with it supporting a Phase 3 clinical trial with the National Institute for Health Research.

Some 30 million doses have been secured from Janssen, and ministers have agreed in principle to co-fund a global clinical study of its vaccine.

The new agreements, on top of earlier deals, mean the UK now has access to six different Covid-19 vaccine candidates in development, across four different types, representing some 340 million doses.

Despite the scale of the Government’s potential stockpile, Kate Bingham, inset, chair of the Government’s Vaccines Taskforce, warned that it was still not known if any of the vaccines would be effective.

“The issue is we don’t know which if any of these vaccines may work, because there have been no vaccines against any human coronavirus,” she said.

“So what we’re doing is we’ve chosen six of the most promising vaccines across four different vaccine types and we’re hoping that one of those will work.” Ms Bingham said she was “reasonably confident” of a vaccine being found that will reduce the severity of coronavirus symptoms and reduce deaths. The Government’s latest agreement follows on from 90 million doses in the pipeline under deals with an alliance between the pharmaceutical giants BioNtech and Pfizer, as well as the firm Valneva. Some 100 million doses could come from a vaccine being developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, while a deal has been struck for 60 million doses of GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur’s potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “The Government’s strategy to build a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates will ensure we have the best chance possible of finding one that works.”

He said it may protect lives in the UK and around the world.